Notice the Sunshine in the Desert

Inter Press Service, 5 June 2006 - The Sahara desert
alone can capture enough solar energy to supply all
the world's electricity needs and more, a United
Nations report says.

"Deserts are a great expanse of land, and have great
potential to supply much, much more," Shafaqat Kakakhel,
deputy executive director of the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) told IPS at the launch of a report
on the deserts to mark Environment Day.

"The report says that one solar park which would
sit within the Sahara could supply all the energy
needs of the world," he said. "Of course there are
many, many complications. But the potential is there."

The report points to the bright side of deserts
but while warning also of new dangers that deserts
face. Declining water levels is the biggest among
them.

"There is no question that the water levels in the
underwater reservoir in many deserts are dropping," Kakakhel
said. "But it's not just the water levels in the
underground reservoirs, it's the rivers that come
into deserts that are being diverted and used elsewhere,
it's the melting glaciers which are providing a little
bit of water now but when they disappear it's like
turning the tap off. So really water is being turned
off on all sides."

The report makes a clear distinction between deserts
and desertification. "We mustn't confuse desertification
with arid lands that are being degraded, with the
desert ecosystem which is an agile and unique ecosystem
in itself which supports a substantial diversity
in plants and species," Kakakhel said. "They are
two separate issues."

Prof. Andrew Warren, professor of geography at the
University College London, one of the key authors
of the report said that in the popular mind there
is more concern over what is called desertification
than with deserts. And desertification is seen usually
as sand dunes advancing into cities.

"But that is not that big a problem," Warren told
IPS. "The far bigger issue is what is happening within
the deserts themselves, they are vast and very sensitive
ecosystems, and they are home to 500 million people.
It is not necessarily deserts spreading. It is things
getting worse within the desert."

And the danger from factors such as declining water
levels is already upon us, he said. "Pakistan is
under a serious water threat. The biggest lake in
the Colarado is drier than it has ever been. So it
is happening now. And it probably will get worse."

Some of this degradation is man-made, says the UNEP
report on the global deserts outlook. Deserts are
increasingly being used as military training grounds
and as prisons and refugee holding stations.

These intrusions import many people into deserts,
generate considerable income and help upgrade infrastructure
but have large environment footprints particularly
with respect to water," the report says. "In an insecure
and competitive world, this kind of investment will
continue, even grow."

By 2050 population growth and inefficient water
use will move some countries "beyond the thresholds
of water stress," the report says. Some of the countries
in danger are Chad, Iraq, Niger and Syria.

In some areas renewable water supplies are threatened
severely by 2025. These sources include the Gariep
river in southern Africa, the Rio Grande and Colarado
rivers in North America, the Tigris and Euphrates
in southwestern Asia and the Amu Darya and Indus
rivers in central Asia.

"Better management of water supplies will be the
key challenge for the future of deserts but could,
if successful, be a beacon of hope and good practice
for other water-short parts of the globe," the report
says.

The report highlights other bright spots in the
desert apart from the scope for trapping solar energy.

The sunlight and temperature regimes have surprisingly
led to an increase in shrimp and fish farms in deserts
in locations like Arizona in the United States to
the Negev desert in Israel, the report says. "Such
ventures offer new and potentially environment-friendly
livelihoods for local people and businesses.